


|christmas mail|

by littlekaracan



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Hogwarts Mystery
Genre: Gen, Hurt/Comfort, but i mean, hello yes THEY'RE TWELVE AT MOST, it's... pretty fluffy, merula is a bawling baby, no shipping YET, penny is way more compassionate than she should be, she is also more patient than merula deserves tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-06 22:29:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14657543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littlekaracan/pseuds/littlekaracan
Summary: Penny gets a lot of letters during Christmas break. She can't wait to open them.





	|christmas mail|

It was strange that they had to go to classes during Christmas, when so many other students were away, but nobody said they’d be learning any new spells during the holidays; besides, perhaps it was just a method to keep them from running around in the halls so much. Penny personally found the early call very appealing; it meant she wouldn’t oversleep the mail. Ah, Christmas mail - the most anticipated part of the celebration in Hogwarts, to first-years and seventh-years and even teachers alike. During breakfast, the hall was buzzing in anticipation, and Penny was right there with her fellow students. She hadn’t heard from home in forever, they were obliged to write at least a few times a year.

And they did – a crooked, angry-eyed owl landed right on Penny’s hand, digging its nails into her skin, but she didn’t mind – how was the owl supposed to know its claws would hurt? There was a neatly packed, box-shaped pile of letters tied to its leg that seemed to weigh heavily on the upset bird.

“You poor thing, you made quite the journey, wasn’t it?” Penny cooed and scratched the back of its head, scrambling to untie the letters. She pushed the slim rope away and ran her fingers over the envelopes, mesmerized by the rough surface and the smell of new paper.

The owl nibbled at her fingers. Penny raised her eyebrows at it. “Hmm? You’d like something?” It hopped closer and gnawed at her braid with its beak, pulling uncomfortably. “Ah!” She giggled, trying to get keep her hair out of the whole ordeal. “Hey! What do you want!”

“Give it a treat, Penny!” Rowan had noticed the owl assault Penny was under and offered help from the Ravenclaw table. “It wants a reward!”

Penny reached for a piece of chicken and tore off a little piece of softer meat from the side of the bone. Then she carefully lifted her open palm with the chicken for the owl to see. And see it did, not only that, but it dug straight into the meat, grateful, before nibbling at her fingers again, this time way more as a way of letting her know they’d formed a treaty. Penny smiled as it flapped its wings and took off.

“Thanks, mate,” she nodded at Rowan, very grateful about the fact that the Ravenclaw didn’t let her get wrecked by the wrath of the owl.

“Anytime and anywhere, pal.”

And then, before Penny could even open a single envelope, the food on the table vanished, other than what was in their plates. Penny was left staring at half a chicken wing in disbelief.

“What, it’s over already?” A passing Gryffindor seemed just as confused.

“The owls probably came late,” his friend guessed.

Hurriedly, Penny stuffed the letters into her pockets and finished off the wing- would’ve been a shame to let it go to waste. She looked up at the ceiling – what class, what class…

 _Thank God_ that when she finally showed up to Charms, it hadn’t started. She slid behind her table and took a breath. It would’ve been horrible to lose Hufflepuff House points on Christmas. Jane would probably have whacked her over the head with _Numerology and Grammatica_.

 

Penny soon came to realize that classes weren’t really classes when it’s Christmas. Professor Flitwick waltzed into Charms with a warm hat and his cloak dyed red and white. It drew snickering from any that hadn’t heard about the way Hogwarts celebrated. Penny was among those who weren’t warned of this, so she hunched over on the table in a fit of laughter, trying to memorize the peculiar appearance of the professor. Other than that, the shenanigan didn’t stop Flitwick from coaxing them into work: they were revising everything they’d learned during the term, even if the classroom was filled with gleeful chatter instead of any actual practice. Penny pressed her lips together, determined to get something done in class instead of thinking of what could be written in those letters, and raised her wand:

 _Lumos_ , light up.

 _Nox_ , extinguish.

 _Wingardium Leviosa_ – lift the feather, move it, put it down.

Breathe and repeat.

After going through the cycle several times, Penny decided it was enough work even for her. It was Christmas, for Merlin’s sake.

She put down her wand on the table carefully petted the bulge in her robes with a smile. Letters, those were letters from her parents in her pockets that she couldn’t wait to open. God, they were all so excited for this lesson to be over. She wiggled in her chair, and a Slytherin who sat next to her shot her a knowing look. She noticed he’d been opening the envelopes under the table and skimming through the letters. Whoever wrote them had very fancy handwriting, and this only made Penny ache to read her own even more.

She sighed, giving in, and put her hand up. Flitwick raised his eyebrows at her.

“Professor, may I go to the bathroom, please?”

He nodded sweetly, gesturing toward the door. She thanked him in a rush and marched through the corridor and to the bathroom just to be safe, her shoes tapping loudly in the empty hallway.

As she opened the bathroom door, something moved in the shadow at the end of the hall and Penny froze, her hand still on the door handle. She squinted, letters forgotten in her pocket. There were no more candles lighting up the way there, just darkness and, Penny assumed, a very good hideout.

There was movement again – something dragging across the floor and a shaky breath.

 _Is that a student_ , Penny’s head hammered. _What happened to them_?

She took her wand out. “ _Lumos_.” Her voice was as quiet as she could make it while still allowing the wand to hear her request. Light slowly seeped through the tip of the wand, illuminating her face. Penny stuck it out defensively and sneaked forward, trying to see through the darkness.

As the light reflected on dark hair, Penny called out softly, “Hello?”

The person moved away from her wand, wiping their nose with a long sleeve.

“Scram,” the girl said in an unpleasant and a very familiar voice.

Penny furrowed her brows, not sure whether she should just stand there, do something or turn around and go.  
“Merula Snyde?” She guessed, leaning a bit closer.

Well, her guess, to her mild disappointment, was clearly correct.

“I said _scram_.” Merula’s tone wasn’t normal. It wasn’t cocky, it was hoarse and silent and shaky. She had hung her head too, so Penny wouldn’t see her face, but she really couldn’t hide a few wet spots spreading on her uniform.

Penny opened her mouth and then closed it in thought. God, it would be so easy to just turn around and go back to class or read her letters in the bathroom, but no matter how much she… less-than-liked Merula, the Slytherin looked pathetic.

“Merlin’s beard, just go!” She barked, looking up at Penny. Merula’s face made her make up her mind rather fast. Apparently Merula was very good at crying quietly: her cheeks were wet, lips curved unnaturally, and her eyes were red, along with even the skin under her eyebrows, but even then there was no sniffling – no noise, period.

Yeah, Penny wasn’t really gonna go anywhere now.

“You’re not in Charms.” Penny extinguished her wand and cautiously sat down on the floor, back to the wall, just like Merula.

“Real insightful,” her voice dripped with thick sarcasm. Penny crossed her arms. Now when she thought about it, she didn’t hear Merula’s usual cackling during breakfast, and she wasn’t in class, either. Penny wasn’t sure how to approach her.

“Is this where you’ve been all day?” She tried, but got no answer. “You gonna tell me what happened?”

“No?” Merula looked away, the whites of her eyes, wetted by tears, glimmering in the dark. “Why?”

“I really just wanna help,” Penny insisted. “You may not like me, and I may not like you very much either, but I’ll turn myself into a chocolate frog before I walk past somebody who’s crying their eyes out and not try to find out what’s wrong.”

“I don’t need your pity, Haywood.”

Penny sighed. God, she _was_ , after all, insufferable. Swallowing down her irritation, she suggested: “Call it not pity, then. Empathetic curiosity, if you will.”

“Mind your own business.” Merula finally turned back. A few new tear tracks were on her face, and Penny was once again surprised by her ability to keep quiet. “I didn’t ask for you to sit here and play healer.”

“I can get you a therapist if I’m so bad,” Penny retorted, and immediately regretted it as Merula turned away again. “Okay, look, sorry, I’m sorry,” she went for damage control. Deciding to change the topic, she rushed: “But didn’t you want to be in the Great Hall for breakfast? Christmas mail came today.”

Merula snorted, seemingly even more upset.

“I know that. Do you- Do you think I’m stupid or something?” Her voice finally broke. _Only so much of an act one can put up_ , Penny thought and swallowed, debating whether she should pat Merula on the shoulder or not. Deciding against it, she only inched a tiny bit closer so Merula could hear her better.

“That’s not what I was saying.” She shook her head, brushing a strand of her hair back. Did Merula really not care about the mail that much? Or was it something else?

Penny really couldn’t imagine what could’ve been worth crying over instead of getting mail. She also couldn’t imagine why she herself was sitting in there and trying to understand Merula, who’d been nothing but rude to her and her friends every since they met. But at least the slurs stopped. Maybe she developed a bit of self-awareness over the year.

“Did you at least get one of your friends to pick yours up for you?” Penny asked, leaning forward to see Merula’s face better. She tried to make her voice sound as non-threatening as possible. Merula’s eyes shifted for a moment. Then she slowly shook her head. “Oh.”

Penny stopped her train of thought and made at attempt at comfort again:

“Well, don’t worry; they’ve got to have saved it in the Owlery. You can just go there-“

“Bloody hell!” Merula snapped at her, and Penny bucked back at the loud voice. “I got no letters, Haywood!”

Penny stayed quiet in confusion, for way too long. Merula seemed to have realized she’d startled her, but instead of flaunting it like she would’ve a few months ago, she stared down the hallway. Penny’s thoughts went wild as she felt like she deserved an explanation after that lash out – why no letters? How can she be sure? What’s up with-?

“I got no letters,” Merula repeated, this time in a much calmer, and, to Penny’s surprise, neutral tone. “There’s no one to write me,” she added.

And suddenly, Penny remembered. _Both of Merula Snyde’s parents are in Azkaban_ , she recalled Rowan saying. _They went in ‘81, and nobody knows when they’ll come out._ If _they’ll come out, that is_.

She cleared her throat and tried to cover up her empty head, having nothing to really say. “Ah, I-…”

“Well, you have your answer.” Merula’s voice went cold again, but it wasn’t confident at all. It was more forced and, of all things, it sounded rather fake. “Go already.”

Quite obviously, Penny didn’t. She pushed a little too hard; it would’ve been unfair to just leave then and there. Furthermore, it’d create the assumption that Penny really was there just to hear juicy details and sell them off to the entire school. Oh, but she was sure Merula knew Penny ran her mouth a lot – so, in conclusion, it was some twisted display of mild trust Merula was displaying, or she was really so messed up she didn’t give a damn about anything what others would think of her anymore. Penny kind of wanted to think it was the former.

“Haywood. Go.” Merula cut off her thoughts and rubbed the corner of her own eye with her fist, but a single droplet remained on her eyelashes, gluing them together.

“That’s…” Penny bit down on her lip. Say something, say _something, fast_. “No, I’m- I’m really sorry, Merula. I didn’t mean to pry.”

Merula shooed her with one hand, dismissive. “Tell someone who cares.”

“You wouldn’t be skipping class if you didn’t care,” Penny argued, and suddenly, a wonderful idea popped into her head.

Ha, maybe she _could_ be creative when she wanted to. “I- You know what, hold on.”

She fished a paper napkin out of one of her many pockets and held it up between her thumb and forefinger with a smile. Merula’s eyes widened in what was undoubtedly at least sparked curiosity.

“ _Incendio_.”

Merula leaned back by instinct, but the tiny flame the spell produced only hovered over the very top of Penny’s wand. It still lit up most of the dark corner they were sitting in, and in the light Merula looked even more interested.

“Don’t look until I tell you,” Penny warned and cautiously turned Merula’s head the other direction with her finger, wondering whether Merula will break her entire hand or not. She didn’t, but murmured a few questioning swearwords.

“Don’t play games with me, Haywood.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Penny snorted and raised her flaming wand. “You don’t seem like the most pleasant partner.”

Merula scoffed at her, “Fair,” but didn’t turn away, instead just glaring at her shadow on the wall.

Penny squinted and brought the napkin and the fire together, trying very carefully to only leave a trail of black on the paper, not completely burn it. It was a funny thing to attempt, and a few corners got burned, but the writing was mostly legible. She bended the napkin into a little paper bird with her wand and admired it for a little second before telling Merula: “You can look now.”

Merula turned back and furrowed her brows at the bird with stripes burned into it that was sitting in Penny’s palm, looking much more alive than most paper birds.

“What’s this?”

“Not even you deserve to get no Christmas mail,” Penny explained vaguely.

“What..?”

She waved her wand again. “ _Wingardium Leviosa_.”

The little bird took off from her palm and promptly landed in Merula’s hair, getting tangled under the dyed strand. Merula didn’t seem to know how to react, really, so she just reached into her hair and pulled it out. The bird lied in her hand, as inanimate as it was before.

Merula glanced at Penny in confusion with raised eyebrows, and Penny nodded encouragingly. Merula finally got the hint and straightened the bird into a napkin again. There, in clumsily burned out letters, it said _Merry Christmas_.

She stared at it for a long long time, and Penny almost decided that it was a bad idea – but then Merula kind of coughed something up.

“Ah, uh…” It seemed like she was white-noising just like Penny was a couple of moments ago. “Why would you…” Her eyes wandered as the blackened napkin crumbled into ash between her fingers. “Fine,” she mumbled, as if she’d made a choice with herself.

She looked up at Penny, something unreadable in her eyes. Not affection, but not really distaste anymore, either.

“Do I have to write one back now, or…?” The words caught Penny off-guard and she burst into giggling.

“Yes! Yes, actually, you do,” She nodded, playing serious. “Not now, maybe, but I will be expecting a letter sooner or later, Merula.”

The Slytherin shrugged in feigned indifference, but didn’t dust the ash off her hands.

Penny built up the courage and asked: “Are you feeling better?”

Another shrug. “Yes, but not because of your little trick,” Merula deflected skillfully. Skillfully, being put in a thousand quotation marks. “I can’t be bawling forever.”

“Alright,” Penny stretched out a smile – not a faked one this time – and stood up. She hadn’t even felt how her legs fell asleep. The girl shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Well, then I’ll go and cover up my prolonged bathroom break to Professor Flitwick.”

As she turned around, Merula called out in a tiny voice, as if she wasn’t even sure whether she wanted to.

“Uh, Haywood?”

“Yeah?” Penny glanced over her shoulder.

“…Thanks. I guess.” Now, it wasn’t hard to tell this took a whole lot of ego-punching for Merula. Penny beamed at her.

Maybe Merula would get better in time – nobody could stay that bitter forever. Aside from Snape, but that was a whole different story.

As Penny dug around in the corners of her brain for what she could make an excuse about to Professor Flitwick, it dawned on her that she didn’t even read the damn letters she received before coming back into the classroom.

 _To hell with it_ , she thought, waltzing in. Charms were about to end, anyway.

 

**Author's Note:**

> i tried!!
> 
> thanks, hm discord. y'all inspiring.


End file.
